PROBLEMS OF THE HAULIER AND CARRIER. •
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Ascertaining the Correct Charge Per Ton when the Weekly Mileage is Liable to Vary Between Wide Limits.
IN my previous article under this heading I dealt with one a two problems embraced in a single inquiry. The correspondent in this case had been asked to quote a rate per ton for the cartage of tarmac over distances which varied from one to ten miles. _He had availablefor the job some two-ton lorries and some of four-ton capacity. The vehicles were to be worked single-handed, being loaded from a chute and unloaded by tipping. The problem of quoting for the work and getting over the difficulty that the cost per ton with a two-ton lorry would be more than with a four-ton lorry was dealt with by me in that article and solved So far as an accurate solution is possible. The other and more difficult part, that of calculating the weekly mileage when distances vary as in this case, I propose to consider now.
A Road-mending Job.
This contract is evidently in connection with roadmending work. I expect that in the beginning the full distance of ten miles will be rim and that this will gradually diminish as the road is completed until it comes down to one mile—the distance from the supply depot. How long the work will take altogether I do not know, but, if I am right in my assumption, then it is fair to assume that, in general, equal stretches of the road will take equal times to complete, so that the lorries will be just as long engaged on the ten-mile journeys as they are an the five-mile, the three-mile, or the one-mile. This simplifies the problem considerably ; it is reduced to calculating the cost per ton for each of the various mileages, eventually finding the average and basing the charge upon that.
I will deal in the beginning with the two-tormer and will start with the longest journey, namely, thgt of ten miles out and home. I have already in the previous article worked out the figures in detail, assuming the distance out and home to be five miles each. I assumed a total of half an hour for loading and unloading and a further half hour for the ten miles' running, making an hour for the complete journey.
When it is ten miles out and home, the time necessary will be one and a half hours; it will, therefore, be possible to do five journeys during each working clay and two on Saturday, which is 27 per week, involving 540 miles' running for the conveyance of 54 tons. The total cost, calculated on the same bas's as before, namely, 4.35d. per mile running cost and £5 Os. 6d. a week standing charges, is £14 14s. Add £4 10s. for profit and £1 10s. for establishment charges and we arrive at a grand total of £20 14s., which involves a charge of 8s, per ton.
Figures for Complete Range of Journeys.
In this way I have calculated the weekly tonnage and cost per ton for every distance from one to ten miles inclusive. They appear below in the form of a short table and are indicated graphically in Fig. 1:— these figures, we get 4s. no, per ton—say, 5s. in round 'figures and 86 tons per week.
In the same way I have calculated corresponding figures for the four-ton lorry. follow :— They work out as The averages here work out at 3s. 51d. a ton, say 3s. 6d., and 135 tons per week. It is of interest to compare these averages with the figures at which I arrived last week in taking the average length of journey to be five miles. Then I got for the two-tonner 4s. 41d. per ton and a weekly mileage of 88 and for the four-tonner 3s. 21d. a ton and 132 tons per week.
It would be quite fair, taking all the circumstances into consideration, to accept these figures for average • tonnage weight and Mileage as bases upon which to quote. That is to say, if only two-tonners were to be used on the job, a profitable rate would be 5s. per ton and it could be taken that the average tonnage would be .86 per week. On the other hand, if only four-tonners were employed a fair charge would be 3s. 6d. a week and 135 tons would be the amount of material moved during this period'.
In this case, however, as has already been explained, a number of vehicles of both sizes are in use. To be able to quote, it is actually necessary to know how many of each is to be used. Then the figure can be calculated as was done in the last article. If, for example, as we said before, there are three two-tenners and two four-tonners, then the former will, in a week, carry 258 tons, for which, if the agreed rate of profit is to be.maintained, the owner must receive 5s. per ton, which amounts to £64 10s. The two fonr-tonners will carry 270 tons between them and they must earn 3s. 6d. a ton if they are to show a fair margin of profit. That is to say, altogether they must bring in £47 5s. for that work and the total revenue from the five vehicles must be £111 15s. This lathe charge for carrying 528 tons, so that the tonnage rate in those .circumstances should amount to 4s. 3d. per ton:
There was another point raised in this query, namely, what rates ought the inquirer to offer to sub-contractors whom lie engages to assist him in carrying out the work. The answer is that if any haulier whatever is to make a fair profit out of this work he must charge at the rate set clown in the body of this article. Con
sequently, any sub-contractor will expect to get the same money as I have quoted above. If some of the work is to be sub-let, then it will be necessary to increase the price against the main client, unless the original contractor is preptred to make no profit on that work which is done for him. Actually, this question brings up once more that point which I have made again and again in these aTticles, that the rate for haulage work is just that .01ich can be got in competition. When I state, as, above for example, that with four-tonners working on this contract a fair rate to charge is 3s. 6d. per ton, what I really mean is that 3s. 6d. will be sufficient to bring in a gross weekly profit of approximately £6 10s. Out of that I have estimated that £1 10s. will go on establishment and overhead charges, leaving approximately £5 a week net profit. I do not state or mean to imply that a haulier• should get no more than this. I would suggest to him, if he be in need of a suggestion, that he gets as much as he possibly can. If, in this case, the inquirer is able to get more for the work than the rates which I have calculated, then he can sub-let-at my rates and retain as profit for himself anything which he
obtains over and above that. S.T.R.